Tories defeated over Trade Union Bill (while we were all thinking about the Budget)

The Conservatives’ anti-trade union plans suffered a setback last night as they suffered a “resounding defeat” in House of Lords votes.

Peers voted against aspects of the Trade Union Bill that would see Labour’s funding take a serious hit, as well as stalling proposals to implement 50 per cent threshold on strike ballots until an independent review has considered electronic balloting, which the Tories oppose.

During the Lords votes last night an amendment was passed, by 320 to 172 votes, to weaken the part of the legislation that would require all trade union members to actively ‘opt-in’ to paying into a political fund. This would severely hit the unions’ ability to fund Labour, with the party predicting it could lose around £8 million a year from the changes.

In January, Labour and Lib Dem members of the House of Lords agreed to work together to oppose these reforms, following a decades-long agreement that major changes to party funding must have cross-party support. Both parties voted for the amendment last night, as well as crossbench peers and two Tory rebels.

Labour’s leader in the Lords, Baroness Angela Smith, said that the latest defeat shows that the Tories had failed to make the case for the legislation, which will now go back to the House of Commons to be debated.

Related

Post navigation

7 thoughts on “Tories defeated over Trade Union Bill (while we were all thinking about the Budget)”

Only 2 Tory rebels in the Lords voted against Tory attempts to delegitimise labour and employment rights and see the Labour Party lose approx. £8 million a year in funding. The Tory attempts at rigging the 2020 election in their favour has to contend with all parties which is why they are attempting to get more Tories in the House of Lords. The saying “by hook or by crook” comes to mind and the Tories are crooks.

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. This includes scrolling or continued navigation. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.